Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to
share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of
appearing foolish or weak. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG
is the brainchild of our ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh.
This month, I’m delighted to cohost with Ronel Janse van Vuuren, JH Moncrieff, and Jemima Pett! To read other contributors, click here
October’s optional question: Many people are calling for
writers who use AI to disclose it. Most who employ ghostwriters do not admit it. Do you think authors who use ghostwriters should have to disclose that, too?
My sense is that ghostwriters usually write for people who are
not writers themselves but have a story they want to tell. Ghostwriters enter
into contractual agreements, get paid for their writing, and understand that
they won’t necessarily receive credit for it. It’s a business agreement for which they are compensated. They go into the process with their eyes open, so
to speak.
My experience reading stories that have been ghostwritten
has been mainly memoir, where the subject of the story shares their history with a
ghostwriter, who uses their writing skill to shape that information in a way that pleases readers. I suspect that most people who read, for example,
celebrity memoir, know that there was someone behind the scenes writing, or collaborating
with the subject, to make sure the story is written well. To test out that
hypotheses (and I confess to using AI here), I searched recent memoirs that were
ghostwritten. Several examples came up, (Michelle Obama, Prince Harry, Michael
Jackson). Each example mentioned the ghostwriter by name. I guess what I’m trying
to say is I don’t think people who use ghostwriters are trying to keep it a secret. Ghostwriters employ their craft to
earn a living and get paid for the service they provide. Similar to a copywriter, or a technical
writer, a ghostwriter uses their talent and skill in the way they choose. Seems
fair enough to me.
I feel differently about AI. It seems like cheating to me if
a writer employs artificial intelligence to concept or create and/or write a
story. We already know that AI improves itself by replicating styles of previously
published works, work that was created by humans and in some cases, theoretically subject to copyright
laws. To me, in that regard using AI to “create” is as bad as plagiarizing. An
author doesn’t deserve credit if they’ve used artificial intelligence to develop
the story, the same way no writer should receive credit for “borrowing” another
human writer’s story.
That said, I fear in the not too distant future, writing a book using a human brain will be considered old fashioned. Think seventy-five years ago and riding in a horse and buggy instead of driving a car. I suspect folks in the future may say, "Why write using a brain when it can be done so much more efficiently using AI?"
Ugh!
What are your thoughts on ghostwriting vs. AI?
6 comments:
Good point they have entered an agreement. They should get at least credit for it in a by line or something though.
Thanks for co-hosting today!
I personally know authors who utilize ghostwriters for fiction. It's not only for memoirs. The ghostwriter gets to earn income from their writing without dealing with the publishing and marketing side of the business. The author who polishes the work benefits from producing more books per year than they could produce on their own.
As far as AI, it's not the same as copying someone else's writing. It learns from copyrighted works, but it doesn't pull whole sentences from them, as some people think it does. LLMs predict what comes next a few letters at a time, not even in whole words. Court decisions are falling along this line, as well - that as long as the LLM was trained on legally acquired works (as opposed to pirated copies) generative AI is not plagiarism.
I think the finished product is what matters, so long as the process doesn't violate any laws.
Thanks for co-hosting!
I agree with you that ghostwriters enter a contract and understand what they're getting into. But I think celebrities and other famous people, who are likely the ones using the ghostwriters, should give their ghostwriter some credit on the cover or in the acknowledgments. Thanks so much for co-hosting this month!
I think these are two wildly different scenarios. I do not care about ghost writers but I do about AI. Ghost writers, who are humans, get paid for their skill. The corporations who own and run AI companies put writers out of business (with ghost writers being high on the chopping block), use up scarce resources and have literally no skin in the game.
AI is a Big NO! for writer's using it in their books. I agree with you about ghostwriters, but still feel they should received recognition.
Also, thank you for co-hosting!!!
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